


Scared Date

by Miraculous_Content



Series: MC-Lukanette's "No Context" November 2020 [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Endgame Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, F/M, Festival, Haunted House, Marinette and Luka are Scared but Soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:08:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29940129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miraculous_Content/pseuds/Miraculous_Content
Summary: After being pushed into a haunted house attraction by their friends - something they both are horrified by - Marinette and Luka still manage to find time to talk and bond with each other. The atmosphere might be wrong, but maybe things can turn romantic anyway?
Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: MC-Lukanette's "No Context" November 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2200050
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	Scared Date

All Marinette wanted was to have a nice time at the festival with her friends. Play games, eat some snacks, and maybe win a prize or two. It was simple and exactly what was reasonable to expect from a festival.

She didn’t know what part of that included being stuck in a haunted house attraction with Luka. She’d tried her hardest to avoid _that_ area specifically, yet she’d somehow been shoved into it alongside Luka the _moment_ she’d let her guard down. It wasn’t that she’d hated the idea of getting one-on-one time with him, but the location wasn’t exactly ideal.

As they walked into the next room, trying to find their way out, something leapt out at them from one of the fake walls. When Marinette had originally imagined she and Luka harmonizing, she thought it might be them singing along to one of Jagged Stone’s albums, but instead, it was them screaming in unison for the nineteenth time as they bolted ahead.

They stopped in the following room to catch their breath, with Marinette whining at nothing in particular, “How big _is_ this place?”

“I have no idea,” Luka lamented. Taking in a large breath, he added, “I’m _so_ sorry, Marinette. It’s just like Jule to do something like this.”

“What?” She spun around to face him. “No, it wasn’t just Juleka!” She paused, noting, “I-I mean, I know that’s not really _better,_ but don’t apologize for it! You didn’t do anything!”

He let out a noncommittal hum, looking away with an embarrassed blush dusting his cheeks. “Not directly, but I’m sure Jule wanted to see me freaked out.”

Perplexed, she tilted her head. “Why would she want that?”

He sighed. “Because I can usually play perfectly, so people like to see me miss a note or two.”

Marinette frowned, having never thought about that. Hoping it sounded somewhat comforting, she chimed in, “People do the same to me, but—ah—not because I ‘play perfectly,’ obviously.” She toyed with her fingers. “I think they just think it’s funny to see me react to things.”

He gave her a sympathetic look and she vaguely wondered if this was really better than trying to get through the haunted house as quickly as possible. They were technically delaying the inevitable next - and hopefully _last_ \- scare, but at the same time, it was still nice getting her alone time with him.

A thought occurring to her, she pointed out, “I didn’t know you hated anything horror-related. O-oh! Unless you told me and I didn’t remember, in which case—”

“I never told you,” he confirmed. “Jule was always watching horror movies late at night when it was dark. I guess I was too—” He glanced off at the side, his modest self probably finding his words weird to say. “— _nice,_ to ask her to turn it down.”

“Having siblings sounds terrible,” Marinette half-joked.

Luka snorted, though his frown didn’t fade. “She’s great, but once she figured me out, she liked scaring me every now and then.”

“Really?” She’d never taken Juleka for the type.

He shrugged. “I never said anything because—” He paused, and she could see that he felt like he was being ridiculous. “—I didn’t want it to change how you saw me.”

“Change—” Marinette blinked, a mix between confused at what he meant and charmed that he cared so much about what she thought of him. “—how? If anything, I’m _relieved!_ ”

He straightened, giving her a weird look. “Relieved?”

“Yeah!” She threw her arms out in dramatic fashion. “You’re _human!_ ”

Luka’s eyes went wide, then he jerked forward, stifling a chuckle.

“ _I’m serious!_ ” she insisted, even while smiling herself. “I thought you might’ve been a perfect angel descending on us mortals!”

He chuckled again, nearly breaking into a giggling fit. Looking up at her with a fond expression, he waited until he was calmer to reply, “I could say the same thing about _you._ ”

She blushed. He seemed to realize what he said, given the way his brows rose, but he didn’t take it back either. She was only now feeling all the romantic atmosphere in the room, knowing very well that this was _not_ the place to be having it.

“A-ah— _so!_ ” She leaned forward to take his hand in hers - okay, maybe that wasn’t going to help anything - then turned away. “We should get out of here! The longer we stay in here, the worse it’s going to be!”

She could sense his smile. “Yeah, let’s go.”

She was glad he didn’t misinterpret what she’d said. He’d always had a way of reading her that she really admired.

They continued on, the room cluttered and with multiple diverging paths. It seemed like a perfect place for someone to pop out or make some spooky noises, but Marinette was thankful to be not as “on edge” as before, a lot of tension drained away from her conversation with Luka.

Then, the already-limited lights went off.

Marinette jumped, feeling Luka clutch her hand tighter as he flinched. She blindly reached out, but abandoned the idea immediately, not having the courage to try and feel her way around.

“It…it’s okay!” she tried to reassure, turning to him even if she couldn’t see anything. “We’ll just use what we remember seeing before to figure out which way to go! Um—” She looked around, trying to envision what the room had looked like. “I-I think there was a break in the curtains this way?”

She hesitated, waiting to see if maybe Luka had any other ideas. He was oddly silent, however, and she was starting to worry that the hand she was holding would end up not being his.

“…You’re incredibly brave, Marinette,” he suddenly said.

“Huh?” She was briefly thankful to the darkness for hiding her dumb surprised face. “No, I’m really not! This is _terrifying!_ ”

“That just makes it all the more impressive,” he argued. “You’re scared, but you don’t stop. You keep going no matter how many times you think you slip up. Even with Adrien, you never quit. That takes a lot of courage.”

She blushed red, now thankful to the darkness for a different reason. She wasn’t sure whether to thank him or brush off the compliment, but—

“Wait,” she began, squinting. “ _With Adrien?_ ”

“Hm?”

Realization hit a moment later, embarrassing her. “Oh. That’s right. I never told you. I guess—it just never came up?” She shrugged, knowing that he might at least feel it through their joined hands even if he couldn’t see it. “I…I moved on from Adrien a long time ago.”

“Really?” he asked.

Without the light, she only had his voice to work off of. It almost made it easier, as his face often didn’t give things away unless he wanted it to. She could hear a hint of hope in his voice that he clearly tried not to make known.

Staring down at their hands, she confirmed, “Yeah. Um, I love someone else now.”

He didn’t respond verbally at first, but just by the way his grip on her hand lessened, she imagined that the hope died out.

“They’re very lucky, Marinette,” he said, voice quieter than usual. “Have you tried telling them?”

She paused, swallowing her nerves and hoping that she wasn’t imagining things. After all, he _did_ flirt with her earlier, unless she was just reading too much into it. Outside of how long it took her to realize her feelings, she didn’t have any reason to believe he didn’t still feel the same.

Squeezing his hand, she whispered, “I _want_ to - I don’t even have an excuse for holding back, since they already confessed to me - but…” She breathed up, adding quickly, “ _I can’t see their lips when it’s this dark._ ”

His fingers twitched against her hand; another nonverbal reaction. She squinted at him, hoping to see any hint of his reaction, but she couldn’t even make out his silhouette.

It hadn’t even occurred to her that they haven’t been jumped by anyone for a while.

Finally, Luka spoke up, a clear lightness in his voice. “Do you think you could remember what you saw before to figure it out, Marinette?”

“Remember—” She stopped, realizing what he meant, and her heart did a flip in her chest at how _happy_ he sounded. Absorbing the moment, she looked down and ran her thumb along his hand, needing a few seconds to confirm to herself what was happening.

She felt his other hand fall upon her shoulder, the feeling alone letting her use her memory to visualize him in front of her: his casual attire, the earrings he never took off, his gorgeous highlights that she’d daydreamed about feeling between her fingers, and his vibrant blue eyes that sent waves of calm over her.

She reached up. On her first try, her hand found his cheek and her thumb slid gingerly over his lips. Luka giggled in response and she shuddered at the way his lips twitched, like he was tempted to kiss her thumb just for effect.

They both leaned towards each other, exchanging a long overdue kiss. It never _did_ occur to them why no one had tried to scare them, even after the fact, but they weren’t afraid anymore anyway.


End file.
